Raspberry Pi Magnetometer

Live Magnetometer Dashboard

Monitoring Earth's magnetic field from my backyard in Louisville, Colorado using an RM3100 magnetometer on a Raspberry Pi. Geomagnetic data from the USGS Boulder Observatory (~10 miles north of my house) is also plotted for comparison.

About This Project

This station measures three components of the geomagnetic field: horizontal intensity (H), vertical intensity (Z), and total field (F). Variations in these measurements can indicate geomagnetic storms caused by solar activity.

Installation

I ordered the RM3100 magnetometer kit and components from HamSCI and followed their installation instructions. The magnetometer is installed in my backyard, carefully rotated so that one axis aligns with magnetic north for optimal measurements.

The sensor is housed inside a PVC pipe and buried approximately 3 feet underground to minimize temperature variations and protect it from electromagnetic interference. An Ethernet cable runs from the buried sensor to my shed, where the Raspberry Pi is kept safe from the elements. The data streams in real-time to a cloud database, powering the Grafana dashboard for visualization.